Jamie Foxx reportedly up for the villain in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2′

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will face off against a "shocking" new adversary in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." According to Variety, Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx is in early talks to play the villain Electro in Sony's superhero sequel to this summer's reboot of the Marvel Comics' franchise.

While the studio hasn't officially commented on casting, Foxx all but confirmed the role Thursday with a post-Halloween tweet:
Dressed up as Electro for Halloween last night. Costume fits well.
— Jamie Foxx (@iamjamiefoxx) November 1, 2012

The classic Spidey villain Electro, aka Maxwell "Max" Dillon, gained the ability to control electricity after being struck by lightning. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, he first appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man #9" in February 1964. Foxx would be a departure from the comic-book character, who has traditionally been depicted as being Caucasian.

There was a hint that Electro would be the villain of the next movie at the end of "The Amazing Spider-Man." In a short scene during the credits, Dr. Curt Conners, aka the Lizard (played by Rhys Ifans), was visited in his jail cell by a mysterious figure obscured in the shadows. The man (played by actor Micheal Masse) asked Connors if he told Peter Parker the truth about his father, and when Connors says no, he disappears with a flash of lightning. This lead some people to assume that figure was supposed to be Electro, but others believe it to be Norman Osborn, who was mentioned throughout the film (and later becomes the villain, Green Goblin).

This would be the first time Electro would appear in a movie, but back in 1991, director James Cameron developed his own "Spider-Man" project that would have featured the character as one of the villains. Cameron's version got caught up in a web of legal issues surrounding the rights, and he eventually left the project, going on to direct "True Lies" and "Titanic." "Spider-Man" wouldn't hit the big screen until the next decade.

Stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are set to reprise their roles as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, respectively, with Shailene Woodley ("The Descendants") reportedly in talks to join the cast as a young Mary Jane Watson. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is scheduled to swing into theaters on May 2, 2014. Jamie Foxx will next be seen playing the title role in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," opening this Christmas.

UPDATE: In an interview with Collider.com, director Marc Webb confirmed that the villain of the sequel will be Electro. He said, "I think Electro is an incredibly visual, exciting, dangerous villain. So, there's a lot of appealing stuff that's going to happen."

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I have zero interest in the NEW Spiderman, I really liked the old crew and thought it was a horrible idea to reboot it now.

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I don't understand the reboot...being that they had just made record sales on the last spiderman series that wasn't really that long ago...at all. Did the film makers really believe they were going to top that? Doesn't make sense. 20 yrs from now...maybe, but why so soon?

It'd be like if someone re-did The Dark Knight 10 yrs from now. Horrible idea (sadly someone will do it).

It sucks that guys like Rhino, Scorpion, Shocker and Vulture are either lame or just meatheads with boring backstories. It really limits the Spiderman rogue gallery. Perhaps they could bring in the Kingpin or Tombstone to use some of those guys as lackies.

Actually now that I think about it, Kingpin rights may be owned by a different studio..

Oh well. They should be able to work with Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, Venom, Carnage, Doc Ock and Lizard.

I don't understand the reboot...being that they had just made record sales on the last spiderman series that wasn't really that long ago...at all. Did the film makers really believe they were going to top that? Doesn't make sense. 20 yrs from now...maybe, but why so soon?

It'd be like if someone re-did The Dark Knight 10 yrs from now. Horrible idea (sadly someone will do it).

I'm with you. Seemed so soon to reboot a series. However I can't really blame them. This movie made 750 million dollars world wide in box office sales. Plus they'll make more with DVD/Blu-ray and toys and shit. Once they make another couple sequels (at least) they'll have made a shitload of money whether the movies suck or not.

I personally liked the first 2 Spider-Mans with Tobey Maguire. Thought they were pretty entertaining. The third one I did not care for much. The addition of Venom was poorly done and pretty weak.

Haven't seen the rebooted "Amazing Spider-Man" yet, but I thought the trailer looked ok. In fact my brother has it on blu-ray. I think I'll give it a watch tonight before bed. I really love Emma Stone and Denis Leary, so it has that going for it. I don't know what to think of Andrew Garfield though. Time will tell I guess.

Jamie Foxx as Electro seems dumb as hell though. Not a fan of that move. Who knows though. I thought Heath Ledger was a terrible choice for the Joker initially. How wrong was I about that!

It sucks that guys like Rhino, Scorpion, Shocker and Vulture are either lame or just meatheads with boring backstories. It really limits the Spiderman rogue gallery. Perhaps they could bring in the Kingpin or Tombstone to use some of those guys as lackies.

Shocker I'll give you. Vulture is at least as interesting as a behind-the-scenes puppet-master as Tombstone will ever be. Scorpion has the whole interdependency/can't-function-without-a-symbiote thing, plus his history as a private eye. Rhino was a meathead for a long time, but they've put some real depth to him recently, and now he's an absolutely fascinating character.

You wanna talk meatheads, there's always Hydro-Man. He doesn't even get a costume.